APRIL 27, 2020 VOL. 56, No. 17
INSIDE PAGE
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COVID-19 LATEST
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NURSES SUE HOSPITALS
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Where’s the money? SBA LOAN MISHAPS HAVE SMALL BUSINESSES TEETERING ON THE EDGE
BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westfairinc.com
F
ran Pastore is not happy. The president and CEO of the Women’s Business Development Council in Stamford has been hosting frequent webinars and teleconferences for companies struggling to survive the COVID-19 pandemic
— with a focus on how to go about receiving some of the economic relief money from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program. The problem? “I don’t personally know anybody in Connecticut who’s received any of that funding. We’ve been told by the (SBA) state director (Mark Hayward) that millions of dollars have been disbursed,” Pastore
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said. “But not a single client, friend or colleague has received any funds.” Indeed, although the SBA announced that it had approved 18,435 small business loans, worth over $4.15 billion, in the state as of April 16 — when its PPP initiative officially ran out of its initial $349 billion — at press time it was hard to find anyone who had actually » MONEY
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LEADERSHIP IN A TIME OF CRISIS: DR. JOHN MURPHY
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kzimmerman@westfairinc.com This is a limited series of Q&A’s by Fairfield County Business Journal Bureau Chief Kevin Zimmerman with leaders in various business sectors and industries. It is designed to illustrate how they’re navigating the COVID-19 era, what past experiences they’ve drawn upon, and suggestions they have for those planning for a career in leadership. Our first subject is Dr. John Murphy, president and CEO of Nuvance Health, the hospital system whose members are Northern Dutchess Hospital, Putnam hospital Center and Vassar Brothers Medical Center in New York and include Danbury, New Milford, Norwalk and Sharon Hospitals in Connecticut. Nuvance’s staff members have been on the
frontlines since diagnosing on March 6 Connecticut’s first coronavirus-positive patient at Danbury Hospital — who, since released, is also an employee at that facility and Norwalk Hospital. How is the present situation at Nuvance? “We’re in pretty good shape with ventilators. We have access through New York and Connecticut to the securing of ventilators from the national stockpile, and we recently received about 40 for each state. So right now we have plenty, but I say that cautiously. My biggest fear was that we may run out of ventilators. “As far as masks, we are scouring the globe for N95s and surgical masks. » MURPHY
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